Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that the Fibromyalgia Wellness Project is now up and running and ready to receive participants. This is a research project sponsored by the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases, National Institutes of Health. Its purpose is to evaluate a new web-based self-management program that aims to help people with FM discover ways to reduce symptoms and improve health through a completely personalized self-monitoring approach that takes no more than 5 to 10 minutes per day.

In using this program you will create your own personal database of symptom patterns and self-management strategies that will be analyzed by the project’s proprietary analytical methods. After sufficient use (depending on how frequently you use it–we recommend at least four times per week), the program will provide you with personalized feedback about strategies that lead to reduced symptoms for you. The feedback you receive will be derived from your own personal inputs over time, which is why your on-going participation over several weeks is needed. This allows you to experiment with different strategies and lifestyle changes (e.g., bed times, meal times, self-help practices, exercise, stresses, herbs, supplements, medications, and more) to find out what works best for you.

Please go to http://www.fmwellness.org/index.htm to learn about the project and sign up.

We will be continuing to upgrade and refine the site in the coming months. I hope you find the project beneficial, and welcome your participation.

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator
The Fibromyalgia Wellness Project
http:www.fmwellness.org

Last week the Chronicle Herald published an article about the results of a recent Qigong trial done on people living with chronic pain.  According to the researcher, Dr. Mary Lynch at Quenn Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, “their quality of life and their level of pain got better. And this is just through a simple series of gentle, dance-like moves.”

What is Qigong?  

From the Qigong Institute:

Qigong (chee-gong) is “Energy techniques” or “Energy Skills,” the ancient Chinese internal arts used for over 5000 years to promote health, emotional happiness and spiritual development.  These methods combine movement or postures, breath or mantra, and mind intention to balance and enhance one’s vital, life-energy.  It has been popularly referred to as Chinese Yoga and moving meditation.  These methods formed the early root of Chinese medicine and are still considered an integral part of modern Chinese medicine, along with acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal medicine.  Today millions of people practice Qigong in China and around the world to successfully treat a myriad of diseases, to improve general health, support longevity, and to promote psycho-spiritual growth and happiness.  Most notably, Qigong practice can provide profound relief to stress and strongly enhance the immune function.

The patients in the study performed by Dr. Lynch practiced several simple Qigong movements for 45 minutes a day.  Positive results were found in all patients who practiced the movement for six months.

After “Googling” Qigong and Fibromyalgia together, I found other studies that confirmed Qigong is effective for treating the pain and the multiplicity of symptoms associate with Fibromyalgia.  Some patients showed improvements after only 5-7 sessions over a three-week period.

Before reading the article in the Chronicle Herald I was unfamiliar with Qigong, but after researching and learning of the positive outcomes for people who suffer from chronic pain, I looked for Qigong practices where I live.  I am always in search of natural and holistic means of managing and improving my Fibromyalgia, and Qigong appeals to me greatly.

I found two local practitioners and have already signed up with one.  I emailed her and asked her to tell me more about Qigong and if she had any information on its benefits for people with FM.  Here is her response:

I can firstly say, yes if I were you I would give it a go! Like anything consistent practice will be the way to tell if it is helping your situation because at first like anything it maybe challenging. Your feet remain in one position for the hour practice while your arms move in conjunction with your breath. I guide the entire hour so you always know what to do, as well as help you follow your breath to be with your internal energy. The idea is to cultivate energy, for healing- so there you go- Qigong brings healing energy into your core and circulates it throughout the body to remove stagnation and create lymph flow and detoxification. As a massage therapist I know fibromyaliga influences people’s energy differently but usually they are in need of more of it. This will help! The practice helps build your arm muscles that may fatigue at first but because you tune into Source energy you will feel supported through it by the energy field around you.

Her email was very energetic and encouraging and I am really looking forward to my first session with her – Wednesday night at 5:45.  I am excited but I am also expecting that I will have to take several breaks throughout the hour and I am also anticipating an increase in my pain level and quite possibly a flare-up.  But I am going because I do believe that, however painful, movement and flexibility is important and these are two areas I need to improve greatly if I ever hope to improve my Fibromyalgia.

Wish me luck!  And look for my follow-up post on Thursday.

NOTE:

In a continuing effort to live well with Fibromyalgia, I am going to be researching and trying new and different things to help maintain my health.  I will report on my research and my own personal experiences, but I am not a doctor and therefore will not be telling anyone to try what I do. If you think you may benefit from my experiences, please check with your doctor to see if it is right for you.